Logo SAYSOY experiment

SAYSOY, or Space Apparatus to Yield SOYsprouts, is an experiment prepared by a team of Italian botany students. The experiment, which investigates the germination of soybean seeds in space, will fly on ESA's Foton-M2 mission due for launch on 31 May 2005 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

After the flight, the soy sprouts will be analysed to see if weightlessness has any negative effect on their nutritional value. If they can successfully be grown in orbit, soy seedlings could prove to be a valuable addition to the astronaut diet during long-duration missions.